This is from an anthropology list. . .from Daniel Foss:
For maybe twenty years, hardly anyone [to exaggerate slightly] in the US
thought about socialism (let alone actually mentioning socialism). Even thought
much about what it once might have meant. elsewhere, elsewhen. A rare exception
was Paul Krugman, writing in 2009, in the tones of a memorial service for the
Dead. From The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 [New York:
W.W. Norton, 2009]:
"[O]ne cannot understand the world as it appeared a few years ago without
considering the fundamental political fact of the 1990s: the collapse of
socialism, not merely as a ruling ideology, but as an idea with the power to
move men's minds. [p. 10] ....
"Whatever the reasons, in 1989 the Soviet empire in Eastern Europe
unraveled, and in 1991 so did the Soviet Union itself.
"The effects of that unraveling were felt around the world, in ways
obvious and subtle. And all the effects of that unraveling were favorable to
the political and ideological dominance of capitalism. [p. 12] ....
"Most of all, the humiliating failure of the Soviet Union destroyed the
socialist dream. For a century and a half the idea of socialism--from each
according to his abilities, to each according to his needs--served as an
intellectual focal point for those who disliked the hand the market dealt them.
Nationalist leaders invoked socialist ideals as they blocked foreign investment
or repudiated foreign debts; labor unions used the rhetoric of socialism as
they demanded higher wages; even businessmen appealed to vaguely socialist
principles when demanding tariffs or subsidies. And those governments that
nonetheless embraced more or less free markets did so a bit shamefacedly,
because they always feared that too total a commitment to letting markets have
their way would be seen as a brutal, inhumane, anti-social policy.
"But who can now use the words of socialism with a straight face?" [pp.
13-14]
[Note: I have quoted Paul Krugman at such length as he is credentialed as
the intellectual leader of the Left Opposition to the incumbent US
Administration within the Democratic Party; is a Nobel laureate in Economics;
and Writes Good Stuff, notwithstanding one or two mildly sexist usages in the
above. -- daf]
Now, what accounts for the sudden outburst of slovenly slinging of sodding
outburst of accusations of "socialist ideologue!" [Tommy Tancredo addressing
the Tea Party convention, Nashville, Tennessee, Feb. 4, 2010]; denunciations of
"that socialist [healthcare reform] bill" [yesterday, March 4, at a rally held
outside the Capitol, Washington DC; charges of "socialist power grab" [or
whatever] in discussions of climate change, finance-industry reform, or any
other legislation or proposal or anything else advocated by known Democrats
from the President of the US on down? [We forebear to mention Gay Rights, ie,
to marriage or military service; abortion; religion inclusive of dogmas
relating to infallibility of Scripture when in conflict with biology or
climatology; &c.
The following should be noted at the outset. (1) Some utterers of "Socialism,"
ie, epithet-ically, are using the usage as a code word for Something Else. But
some aren't. (2) Some utterers are conformistically emulating ex-Gov Palin, who
is delightfully unconcerned about knowing aught about what she'a ralking about.
If anything. And has, thereby, acquired wild popularity as the personification
of the Pleasure Principle, Primary Process, Id Indulgence: sheerest uttermost
irresponsibility; "going rogue" is one self-designation we'll allow. But this
begs the question, whay that particular piece of....discourse?
Besides which, (3) all of That Stuff subsided after the 2008 elections; it
only resuscitated around March, 2009.
I believe, this week, at least, that the Real Explanation of why the
Strange and Deluded-looking political discourse on the Right [spanning, as it
does, the big-business Right, the taxation-suppression Right, the Populist
Right [ie, your Tea Party, which the Economist called "a genuine
counter-revolution" the religious Right, the white racist Right, and the rest
of Them] is, basically, that The World did not Come To an End. As it might
well, by all outward appearances, have done, in the minds of the voters, as of
November 4, 2008: we indicate herewith and hereby "Another Great Depression."
Were there not a lively fear of precisely this, Obama might well have
lost: John McCain, unlike George W. Bush, was at least competent, if a touch
senile-demented; but he was no Messiah. The Democratic candidate had avowed, if
nebulous, Messianic claims or un-discountenanced, even self-promoted
attributions, viz., "Change you can believe in." Folk-memories or schoolbook
tales of ssFranklin D. Roosevelt strongly suggested, and the Collective
Behaviour of Wall Street bankers utterly confirmed, that Big Business [ie,
Monopoly Capital] was or is the last place to go to get your country out of a
Great Depression. So,"if we are, Forsooth, to have Another of The Great
Depression," leave us sit tight, fingers crosswise, Hoping for Hope,
expectantly awaiting our Saviour! Who'd say What's What: "If all we have to
Fear is Fear Itself, then we must Fear that, Else we'd have Nothing! to Fear!"
[Picked that up in a Paranoid Studies course....maybe.] Once more, we'd go to
war with Japan, to make cars, like the last time, and Banish the Great
Depression. [Note: Fact was, the Japanese casus belli in 1941 was, FDR's
refusal to sell them any more scrap fmetal, basically Used Cars, for them to
recycle into aircraft carriers. Consider the uses they then made of their
existing aircraft carriers, the deterrent value on both sides was nil. - daf]
Now, if anything Went Wrong with these doomsday expectations, there'd be a
huge feeling of Betrayal, projected onto the now-incumbent Obama, for having
rendered them limp, passive, and pliable in the circum-election weeks, and
possibly for a brief period of up to a couple of months thereafter.
By which time. it was no longer to be a Great Depression; just, or merely,
a Great Recession! Which, as the technical definitions would have it,
officially "ended" as of the second quarter of 2009. Though, as it turns out,
the "official," "nominal" Unemployment Rate, which gets the widest publicity,
is stuck at around 10%, and a lot of those Not Working, including the System
itself, go uncounted [ie, up to maybe 25%, but that's sheer guesswork]; and
whereas the Gross Domestic Product, as Normally computed [ie, value of all
goods and services "produced"] is totted up as the Gross Domestic Income --
theoretically the same thing but, actually, comprising the total income
everyone is paid, is much less, with the gap increasing -- deterioration and
decline continue, if short of Collapse: the Private Sector makes more "value"
with less labour.
Because there's a Great Recession on.
Oh, you must remember this....
Ides-of-March: One year ago, almost to the day, the stock-market indices
notched their lows following the 2008 crash; they have since recovered 50% , or
possibly up to 70%, of their nominal declines, depending on what or how you are
measuring. Not only did "another Great Depression" not materialise; the crash
was sufficiently long ago - September through November 2008, basically - that
those so motivated could and do manage to obliterate from memory their own,
generalised expectations of total systemwide collapse: this was instilled,
promoted, and propagated by perfectly reasonable people, quoted to the effect
that the End was Nigh, just below apocalyptic, eschatological headlines on
covers or front pages of Barron's, Business Week, The Financial Times, The New
York Times, and The Economist (The Wall Street Journal peddled the same goods
in a more decorous layout).
In a Blinding Flash, it was Revealed that the social order upon whose Eternal
Persistence all of us, you, you, even you, rely implicitly, even if, like some
of us, we's prefer, In Theory, that the whole capitalist system peacefully and
quietly Go Away! Hah! The whole social order, as we were saying, was, and a
year later still remains, Exceedingly Fragile.
Now, if you were a Regular Person, for whom, by definition, your ideology
is called Reality, reallye , that's its name, which you take for the Thing
Itself; and, say, you're even a Psychiatrist, for whom your Job, wherefor you
are Paid, is enforcement of Reality upon Other People, and it Just So Happens
that both your parents are Palestinians...... How could you Possibly Know What
You Are Doing?? But that's, admittedly, an extreme case. [Note: alluding to Maj
Nidal Malik Hasan; Nov 5, 2009; and 13 victims then and there, Ft Hood Alabama.
- daf]
But the Point is, Both of these things, Social Reality, "reality," and
Ideology, "Reality," are in parlous condition; they did not collapse in 2008-9;
but as the archaeologist Norman Yoffe e wrote in his edited volume
(1988) on the collapse of civilisations, "All previously existing complex
societies have collapsed....excepting only our own."
[To Be Continued....some other night]
Daniel A. Foss
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